Microsoft RemoteFX

Updated: February 23, 2011

Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1

Microsoft RemoteFX is a new feature that is included in Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1 (SP1). It introduces a set of end-user experience enhancements for Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) that enable a rich desktop environment within your corporate network.

Microsoft® RemoteFX™ enables the delivery of a full Windows user experience to a range of client devices including rich clients, thin clients, and ultrathin clients. RemoteFX delivers a rich user experience for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) by providing a 3D virtual adapter, intelligent codecs, and the ability to redirect USB devices in virtual machines. RemoteFX is integrated with the RDP protocol, which enables shared encryption, authentication, management, and device support. RemoteFX also delivers a rich user experience for session-based desktops and RemoteApp programs to a broad range of client devices.

Host side rendering allows graphics to be rendered on the host device instead of on the client device. This enables support for all graphics types by sending highly compressed bitmap images to the endpoint device in an adaptive manner. This also allows the applications to run at full speed on the host computer by taking advantage of the GPU and the CPU, which provides an experience that is similar to a local computer.

GPU Virtualization is a technology that exposes a virtual graphics device to a virtual machine. RemoteFX exposes a WDDM driver with the virtual desktop, and it allows multiple virtual desktops to share a single GPU on a Hyper-V server.

Enterprise customers who have consolidated their desktops on to a Hyper-V server can take advantage of this technology. GPU Virtualization in RemoteFX enables end users to run graphical applications on a virtual machine. It also enables administrators to share physical graphics devices across multiple knowledge workers with virtual machines running on a Hyper-V server.

Intelligent Screen Capture is responsible for checking screen content changes between frames and transmitting the changed bits for encoding. Intelligent Screen Capture tracks network speed and then dynamically adjusts according to the available bandwidth.

Intelligent Screen Capture understands the network capability between the client and host devices with regards to rendering and compression. The virtual GPU renders the applications, and Intelligent Screen Capture understands which part of the screen has changed and then compresses and transmits those changes. If the network connection is degraded on the client device, Intelligent Screen Capture sends fewer frames across the Internet to avoid network congestion. Intelligent Screen Capture is designed to support fast networks, in which case it can send more frames to ensure a good user experience.

The RemoteFX Encoder allows encoding on the processor, on the GPU, or on dedicated hardware. After the screen data is compressed, it sends the data to the virtual desktop, which transfers the bitmaps by using Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) client computers.

The RemoteFX Decoder decodes bitmaps that have transferred from the virtual desktop to the client computer. RemoteFX Decoder decodes the bitmaps on the client computer by using software in the GPU or processor, or by using a hardware decoder.

RemoteFX USB Redirection allows many devices to be redirected to an RD Virtualization Host server at the USB level. Advantages of this solution include that no device drivers are required on the client computer, and a universal interface is provided that works with any USB device on any platform where RemoteFX USB Redirection is supported. This solution redirects many types of devices, including audio devices, storage devices, human interface devices, all-in-one printers, and scanners.